Everything You Need for Unforgettable Homemade Pizza

Mastering the art of home-baked pizza is totally worth the (minimal) investment of time, and while it doesn’t require a lot of fancy tools, there are definitely a few pieces that make your life easier and your pizzas more delicious. Here are a few of our top picks.

You're guaranteed to pick up some new tips from this book by Portland, Oregon, baker Ken Forkish. In addition to more than a dozen dough recipes (from the I Slept in But I Want Pizza Tonight Dough to Overnight Levain Dough, made with wild yeast) he offers many tips for turning out perfect pizza, including raising the oven rack and using the broiler to make a hot oven even hotter.

We're especially fond of this baking stone because it's made from flameproof glazed ceramic that can withstand temperatures up to 900°F, so you can use it both in your oven and on your grill, for year-round pizza baking. It’s also easier to clean than traditional unglazed pizza stones.

If you have a recipe calling for 00 flour, an Italian specialty flour, it's worth seeking it out. The flour is very finely ground and powder-soft, but it also has high levels of protein and gluten, which give pizza dough a wonderful strength and elasticity.

This gadget is a multifunctioning pro: Slide one blade down to slice pizza. Slide two down to slice herbs (making it indispensable for fresh-basil-topped pizza Margherita!). Retract them both and toss the whole thing in a drawer with no worries about injuries. Both blades can also be removed for easy cleaning.

A good pizza peel makes easy the seemingly impossible task of getting an uncooked pizza onto the hot pizza stone with its toppings intact. This peel boasts a secure handle and a slanted edge, to help the pizza slide off (a generous dusting of flour or semolina helps too). And it’s made of gorgeously-grained acacia wood, so once the pizza is baked you can take it right to the table for stylish serving.

Cambro’s dough buckets are the pros’ pick for storing dough in the refrigerator while it slowly rises and develops flavor. Paired with the coordinating lid (sold separately), the rigid polycarbonate container is durable, dishwasher- and freezer-safe, and the quart markings make it easy to judge when the dough has risen enough.

This may be the coolest tool in the bread- or pizza-baker’s arsenal. It looks like a piece of modern art, with its curved stiff wire jetting out of a wooden handle, but it is seriously practical. Because the whisk doesn’t have a solid surface, like a spoon, it can move through the dough with much less effort. It is the perfect tool for no-knead dough, as well as stiffer traditional doughs.